[nithinnarayanan]

Originally Posted by BaCkSeAtDrIVeR

How about Mananthavady > Boys town > Kottiyuur > Iritty > Mattannur (take right) > Kannur??

Originally Posted by RajeshK

I hope this should be shorter, but the Kottiyur - Peravur road was almost collapsed during the last monsoon, no idea whether this is repaired. Also, if you are a beginer in driving, better to avoid the downhill to Boys Town.

Otherwise, Manathanwady - Nedumpoyil - Koothuparamba - Kannur will be good option. The stretch between Nedumpoyil and Koothupamba is not so good.


Thanks
Rajesh

The Shortest is Mananthavady > Boys town > Kottiyoor > Iritty > Mattannur > Kannur as mentioned by BaCkSeAtDrIVeR

But the road between Kottiyoor and Peravoor is little bad at some places.

Would recommend taking Mananthavady > Nedumpoyyil > Peravoor > Iritty > Mattannur > Kannur insted as the road is excellent between Nedumpoyyil > Peravoor > Iritty and Mattannur > Kannur.

Will update further on the condition after my next weeks trip to Kannur & Calicut.

Regards
Nithin

[nithinnarayanan]

Hi all,

Just came back from Kannur.
It was hell of an experience crossing the Muthanga~Gundalpet stretch.
Was stuck in the jam from 6pm to 10.30 pm.

Would not recommend this road in case you are in a hurry and have to reach bangalore in the night.

The best road as of now will be, Mananthavady~Tolpatty~Kutta~Kaanur~Thittimatty~Hun sur~Srirangapattana~Bangalore.
Though there is a bad stretch of around 10 Kms, this road is open 24hrs and trucks/busses and very less on the route.

Meanwhile the update on the Iritty~Kootupuzha~Perumpady~Gonikoppal route is that the work is going on, but very slow because of the unscheduled rains. This road is likely to be open to public in Jan 2010 only .

Regards
Nithin

[hvkumar]

Originally Posted by nithinnarayanan

Hi all,

Just came back from Kannur.
It was hell of an experience crossing the Muthanga~Gundalpet stretch.
Was stuck in the jam from 6pm to 10.30 pm.

Why the jam?
Is the Muthanga-Gundulpet road also closed at night now?

[nithinnarayanan]

Originally Posted by hvkumar

Why the jam?
Is the Muthanga-Gundulpet road also closed at night now?

Yes sir.
The NH212 is closed from 9PM to 6AM

[RajeshK]

Originally Posted by nithinnarayanan

Hi all,

Just came back from Kannur.
It was hell of an experience crossing the Muthanga~Gundalpet stretch.
Was stuck in the jam from 6pm to 10.30 pm.

Nitin, thanks for the update. The muthanga blockage will further increase with the Sabarimala season..!!

Originally Posted by nithinnarayanan

Meanwhile the update on the Iritty~Kootupuzha~Perumpady~Gonikoppal route is that the work is going on, but very slow because of the unscheduled rains. This road is likely to be open to public in Jan 2010 only .

Regards
Nithin

I expected this road will be open by Dec'09..!! Now if they say Jan'10, probably it might extended to March'10..

Thanks
Rajesh

[laluks]

what is the last entry allowed from the muthanga side to the forest roads?

Blocks - can we expect any respite if we time it at a lean hour? Is there a lean hour

[nithinnarayanan]

Originally Posted by laluks

what is the last entry allowed from the muthanga side to the forest roads?

Blocks - can we expect any respite if we time it at a lean hour? Is there a lean hour

There are three check posts before the forest check post @ muthanga, commercial tax being the first where usually you get stuck because of the trucks parked in one side and you have only one lane for traffic. The second being the Excise check post, they are checking all the vehicles commercial and private. Then comes the RTO (Kerala) checkpost which is also jamed because of the heavy Shabarimala traffic passing by.

By the time you cross all these check posts it will be a good 30min in off peak hours (7am to 4Pm) and 1~1.5 hrs in peak hours (6am to 7am and 4pm to 9pm) the time increases further if it is raining.

So try to cross this area in between 7am to 4pm, if you are taking this road.

Regards
Nithin

[brat001]

hi, plannin to drive down with my family from bangalore to cannanore this weekend, may leave here around 4.00Pm. which would the best route be considering the time im starting out from here. Also any suggestions for a nice beach resort to stay in where the kids can enjoy the sea and sand out there. thanks

[vista_qjd]

How is the mananthavady - koothuparamba - kannur route now? Hvae the rains washed away the roads?

[ranjitp1]

Originally Posted by brat001

hi, plannin to drive down with my family from bangalore to cannanore this weekend, may leave here around 4.00Pm. which would the best route be considering the time im starting out from here. Also any suggestions for a nice beach resort to stay in where the kids can enjoy the sea and sand out there. thanks

All the forest routes leading into Kerala are closed in the night from 9pm(or 8pm?)so you would be cutting it real close with a 4pm departure from BLR.There is a beautiful place near Kozhikode called Kadavu.Its one of its kind.At Kannur,Kannur Beach House & Mascot Beach Resort is a good one.
Kadavu Resorts, Calicut, Kerala Kannur Beach House - Home Mascot Beach Resorts is situating at Kannur (Cannannore), kerala, india

[laluks]

Originally Posted by ranjitp1

All the forest routes leading into Kerala are closed in the night from 9pm(or 8pm?)so you would be cutting it real close with a 4pm departure from BLR.

Exactly.

Yesterday I had to drive back from Calicut, and I reached Muthanga by 8PM. By seeing the Sabarimala crowd and how they blocked all the road, I was sure I'm not going to make it to the Karnataka Checkpost before 9 through that mess.

Hence retraced and took Mananthavadi - Tholpetty - Kutta - Gonnikoppal - Hunsur road to Bangalore. Pathetic roads from Mananthavadi till you hit Hunsur road. My advice is avoid this unless absolutely urgent to reach Bangalore.

Started after a good Dinner from Sultan Battery by 10.30PM and reached Bangalore by 6.00AM.

The sad part is I drove my Civic here though nothing untoward happened. Roads simply don't exist!!

[brat001]

thanks ranjitp1, will check out the links, will be driving down in an innova,what would be a good route to take considering i will leave blr by 4pm, also whats the distance ?

[ranjitp1]

Originally Posted by brat001

thanks ranjitp1, will check out the links, will be driving down in an innova,what would be a good route to take considering i will leave blr by 4pm, also whats the distance ?

the only option is to drive via Mysore-Hunsur-Gonikoppal-Iritty-Koodali-Kannur.But I think this road is under construction after the recent rains and is not expected to open till next year.This leaves you with an option to stay the night at Mysore,and start early in the morning next day to reach Bandipur checkpost by 6am and continue thereon or else drive on Hunsur road and then onto Gonikoppal-Kutta-Mananthavady-Thalassery-Kannur.But like Lalu mentioned,road conditions are extremely poor after Gonikoppal.Best would be to either start early from Blore or stay the night at mysore and continue thereon.Do an early morning 3am-4am start from blore and it would be an easy drive for you to kannur.

[nithinnarayanan]

Originally Posted by brat001

hi, plannin to drive down with my family from bangalore to cannanore this weekend, may leave here around 4.00Pm. which would the best route be considering the time im starting out from here. Also any suggestions for a nice beach resort to stay in where the kids can enjoy the sea and sand out there. thanks

Originally Posted by ranjitp1

the only option is to drive via Mysore-Hunsur-Gonikoppal-Iritty-Koodali-Kannur.But I think this road is under construction after the recent rains and is not expected to open till next year.This leaves you with an option to stay the night at Mysore,and start early in the morning next day to reach Bandipur checkpost by 6am and continue thereon or else drive on Hunsur road and then onto Gonikoppal-Kutta-Mananthavady-Thalassery-Kannur.But like Lalu mentioned,road conditions are extremely poor after Gonikoppal.Best would be to either start early from Blore or stay the night at mysore and continue thereon.Do an early morning 3am-4am start from blore and it would be an easy drive for you to kannur.

The best route would be(Avoiding Gonikoppal) :
Bangalore~Srirangapattana~Hunsur~Thittimatty~Kaanu r~Kutta~Tolpatty~Mananthavady~Nedumpoyyil ~Peravoor~Iritty~Mattannur~Koodali~Kannur.
This is open 24 hrs but has 5 to 10 Kms of bad stretch in between Tithimatty and Tolpatty.

Originally Posted by nithinnarayanan

The best road as of now will be, Mananthavady~Tolpatty~Kutta~Kaanur~Thittimatty~Hun sur~Srirangapattana~Bangalore.
Though there is a bad stretch of around 10 Kms, this road is open 24hrs and trucks/busses and very less on the route.

Originally Posted by vista_qjd

How is the mananthavady - koothuparamba - kannur route now? Hvae the rains washed away the roads?

This road is bad from Nedumpoyil to Koothuparamba. Would recommend the below route :

Originally Posted by nithinnarayanan;

The Shortest is Mananthavady > Boys town > Kottiyoor > Iritty > Mattannur > Kannur as mentioned by BaCkSeAtDrIVeR

But the road between Kottiyoor and Peravoor is little bad at some places.

Would recommend taking Mananthavady > Nedumpoyyil > Peravoor > Iritty > Mattannur > Kannur insted as the road is excellent between Nedumpoyyil > Peravoor > Iritty and Mattannur > Kannur.

Thanks
Nithin

[laluks]

Hunsur~Thittimatty~Kaanu r~Kutta~Tolpatty~Mananthavady

Hunsur - Thittimathy is narrow patchy road.

Thittimathy to Kutta, mostly are in shambles, with huge craters often.

Kutta to Tholpetty and further on for while is better not described, there are no words.

All the way till Thirunelly and the exit near RTO checkpost before a few kilometers to Mananthavadi is again in too bad.

Beware of the sides if you had to get down to give other vehicles way to go, which is very true since the night buses to Calicut come through here.

Bottom line is this road exists, but do drive in this only if you are in the utmost emergency to reach Bangalore the same night, else plan and get through the forest check posts before 9PM.

I have seen Innovas and Taveras crawl here. We all entered from Manathavadi RTO side by 11.15Pm and got out on Hunsur road by 3.30AM. A total of around 100Km in over 4 hours. I would say 80% of this was bad.